Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly have been linked with moves away from Arsenal this week, and Mikel Arteta has now commented on these potential departures.
The Gunners are riding high at the top of the Premier League, and look set to progress into the Champions League semi-finals after beating Sporting CP in the first leg of their quarter-final tie on Tuesday night.
This success has come at the expense of academy players’ minutes on the pitch, with Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly moving to the periphery of Arteta’s squad this term. The former was shipped out on loan to Marseille in January, while the latter now finds himself behind both Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie in the left-back pecking order at the Emirates.
Thus, it wasn’t a huge surprise when reports emerged on Thursday suggesting that both Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly could be sold by Arsenal in the upcoming summer transfer window.
Mikel Arteta comments on Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri amid exit talk
Last term, injuries marred Arsenal’s campaign. The Gunners were out of sight in the Premier League title race by the start of March, while they were forced to use Mikel Merino as a striker in the latter stages of the Champions League.
In the midst of this injury chaos, opportunities were given to teenagers Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly. While the Hale End graduates’ development was a shining light in a dim season for Arsenal, they needed to address why they had to rely on youngsters in the run-in.
Andrea Berta opted to drastically improve the depth of the Gunners’ squad last summer, signing the likes of Hincapie, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke, and these signings ultimately pushed Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly to the outskirts of Arteta’s ensemble.
Now, Arsenal may look to cash in on the pair of Hale End stars, with neither looking likely to oust the players ahead of them in the pecking order any time soon.
This would be a deeply unpopular decision for the Gunners’ hierarchy to make, and thus, it was no surprise that Arteta was quizzed about it in his press conference on Friday.
“It’s part of us,” the Spaniard said in response to a question about Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly.
“I think at the end, what it has to define this football club is to seek for the excellence and to seek for the best, regardless of whether you’re coming from the academy or from abroad.
“At the end, if we can have players from Hale End, obviously much better because the identity is there. We grow with them, and they know exactly what we’re looking for.
“But then they have to earn it, and not for a week, not for a month, not for years like anybody else. It doesn’t matter what department or role you have in the club.
“At the end, you have to sustain performance and that has to be at the very highest level. If we want to win sustainably, we want to win.”
A typically coy response from Arteta that reveals very little about the two players’ likelihood of departing N5 in the summer, it remains to be seen whether Berta will actually sanction their exits.
Arsenal should consider selling Ethan Nwaneri in the summer
Selling popular academy players is never going to go down well amongst a club’s fanbase. Arsenal supporters have already vented their frustrations about this potential summer approach regarding Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri.
That said, the club’s decision-makers have to have more foresight than the fans and cannot afford to be swept up in supporter sentiment. Nwaneri is an asset to Arsenal, and they could make a significant sum by sanctioning his sale in the summer.
While the Gunners should explore Lewis-Skelly as a midfielder, as his attributes make the prospect of him in this role exciting, and they simply need more players in this position, there is no clear role for Nwaneri. Arteta already has the likes of Martin Odegaard, Eberechi Eze, Kai Havertz and Max Dowman at his disposal, and all of these players want to play in the types of areas Nwaneri does.
The 19-year-old has flashed glimpses of brilliance, but there is no guarantee that he will develop into a player who has to be playing every week for a team competing for major honours. Thus, if a significant offer comes in for Nwaneri, Arsenal have to at least consider it.
